@CarolDuhart2: I know this will come as a great shock to you but people actually play the game for other than a “career”. Of course since Balloon Juice has gone anti football I’m sure the whining will continue.

@raven: I’m tired of the NFL’s stupid overtime rules. I knew the coin toss would determine the winner of a trip to the Super Bowl. It’s the playoffs, come up with a system that gives both teams an equal chance of victory. Apparently, that’s too difficult for the NFL.

@raven: Yes, some may play for fun,but dad isn’t talking about the backyard game. He wants the next Tom Brady so that he could brag about his “he-man” son. That his kid may have a better and longer career and healthier life through robotics doesn’t even register with him. Rather his son be-if he’s even capable of being-a mediocre NFL benchwarmer that someone who could create a self-driving Space Shuttle.

The Saints got robbed on a heinous missed pass-interference call at the end of the game,

“Heinous” is an understatement. Blatant interference, plus helmet-on-helmet (and leading with his helmet).

Were I the Commissioner, I’d fire the fuckup first thing tomorrow. Maybe the entire crew.

And fuck the Pats. Although I’ve been a Jets fan since the early 1960s, I haven’t hated the Pats — until recently. Even Kraft stealing Belichick, lo these many years ago, didn’t cause me to hate them. Not sure what caused me to flip. Maybe it’s Brady and Kraft being Shitgibbonistas. (Not that Woody Johnson is any better in that regard.) Ah, fuck it, who cares?

To rub it in, we see the president of Iran and his foreign minister publicly announcing their trips to Iraq well in advance and also the cities they will be visiting and the pubic events they will be participating in. They apparently stay in hotels, not on military bases.

Yeah, lots of people noted at the time, that the Iraq War was a gynormous gift to Iran. With a lovely bow on top. I mean, the SCIRI guys (remember them?) were all getting IRGC pensions, from back when they’d fled to Iran and supported Iran’s war against Saddam Hussein. The idea that somehow they’d turn against the IRGC and Iran …. ridiculous.

@The Midnight Lurker: A brief break in the clouds here in San Francisco allowed me to see about a 15% bite out of the moon, thus proving that there is an eclipse. It’s not science unless it can be verified, right?

I never cease to be amazed by the sports parents I know who blow essentially a whole college tuition on club sports in the hopes that Junior will get a scholarship to college, but then don’t give much of a damn about their schoolwork or their brainy extracurriculars. Like, do they know that they can get scholarships for being scholarly?

Eh, I’m just a pointy-headed intellectual liberal coastal elitist who majored in Whatever Studies, or something. I should learn about Real Americans.

@The Midnight Lurker: Thank you for the reminder! It’s a clear night here, which is a tad unusual for January, so the view is spectacular. But it’s also 2 degrees, which sadly isn’t at all unusual for Jan., so I’m taking it in in 1-minute bursts, dashing back inside to warm up.

Yeah, the current system is only marginally better than the previous “sudden death” one. When they changed it I couldn’t believe they didn’t make it one possession for each team—regardless of whether the first team scores—then sudden death after that.

@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: It’s mostly clear, or at least clear enough, here in the LA area. Got a nice photo just now of the moon with a big bite taken out of it; totality starts in a half hour or so.

Yeah, I sort of eased into Patriot hatred too without conscious effort. They don’t have a monopoly on smug dickishness and Trump-humping, but they are really good at projecting it all over. And of course their winning is salt in the wound.

Will look for GoFundMe accounts for more than one federal employee tomorrow. Will also pitch into John’s GFM account for the botanist. Hating that we ordinary taxpayers have to fund people Trump is screwing, but glad to do so in this dire situation.

How is this defending and protecting the Constitution, Mr. Trump? In what universe are you promoting the general welfare? The indictments can’t come soon enough!!

If the airlines are still flying Tuesday, I’ll be more scant here… no telling if the camp still really has sat service via Hughes…

I’m at a Lego robotics tournament for my oldest and you’ve never seen this many depressed fathers in one place. We’re all thinking, “Shit, I wish the Legos I had as a kid could do *this*. I’m so jealous.“

I need to go take a look out of my bedroom window. Usually I see the moon at some point during the night, but I’m not sure exactly when. It’s 17° in NoVA right now, so I sure as hell am not going outside.

@Jay: Yay for him. I got a full academic scholarship for undergrad. Didn’t marry money, but that’s okay. I know a shit-ton of people who played sports in high school and went on to…..well, not much. They probably outnumber the ones who went on to athletic scholarships by a hundred to one. (Though Richard Jefferson and Luke Walton were college classmates.)

But SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS, as they are good and manly, whereas robotics or academics or arts are for the weak. But what toxic masculinity?

WTF dude, Parcells told Bill he was gone from the Jets and then voila! Tuna was the Jets general manager. It ain’t Tuna’s Super Bowl defensive game plan that’s in the hall of fame. BB was done being Parcell’s wizard. That is all on Jets executives, Tuna was not a great draft guy. I’m a Giant fan that treasures them beating the Pats twice. Belichick is league in with Satan, but I can’t complain ’cause Eli’s got his own hoodoo man, he just didn’t get the favorable terms that BB got. I figure BB also sold his kid’s souls off.

Apparently the dude’s schtick is to make jokes on Twitter about being a shitty, clueless dad. Because apparently talking in an honest way about loving and supporting your kids will make a man’s peni$ fall off.

@Steeplejack: We’re close to the winter solstice so the sun is about as far low in the sky as it gets (in the northern hemisphere). The moon in eclipse is thus about as high in the sky as it gets. So it’ll definitely clear the treetops, but you might have to lie on the floor to see it out your bedroom window.

No, I know. I’m just bitter, thinking about the Jets that “mighta been.” I think Kraft has been a great owner, despite his politics. And I think Belichick has a bit of the drama queen in him, given the way he handled the quit/sign thing.

I knew him before High School, from swim team, we had a detante, I didn’t tolerate his BS and he learned not to pull that around me, or even me finding out about it afterwards.

We “reconnected” when my Company sent me out to rescue Milwaukee, and it turned out that Moose was the VP of a Company that was both one of our vendors, and one of our customers.

They did metal fab, we built industrial automation, industrial computer systems, programming and communications.

We “connected” over business, Canada things, ( hockey and canoes), sort of, enough for the odd dinner, the odd holiday weekend at his “cottage”, after all, I was “alone” in Milwaukee, working 17/6 to try to save a Division that had spent 8 years in the red and 500+ jobs.

3 of his kids wound up at my place, ( 2 when I lived in Milwaukee, 1 in Vancouver), when they came “out”. 3 am doorbell rings.

Took 3 years of beating on Moose for him to finally buy a clue.

He went MAGA from day one, but now he’s “retired” off the family money, because China ate his shorts. He’s not MAGA any more, but he’s not “woke”, and still as dumb as a stump.

It’s 50f here in Nova Scotia because we’re on the other side of the storm getting that sweet south wind. By morning it will be back to freezing and Wunderground says it will be 11F by Tuesday morning. Global weirding continues. It’s also raining so no visible moon here.

Balmy 41 degrees here in Sitka. Marine rain forest living down to its precipitate reputation — no eclipse for us. Was sposed to go out with a buddy — waders on, headlamp affixed, cat’s-paw at the ready — for abalone (before the sea otters gettem all) on the (minus) low tide earlier tonight, but put er off for a coupla days. (Best lows inconveniently timed after dark right now.) Lotta bears about still, roaming the beaches. Very lean time a year. The ravens and gulls and eagles and bears miss the land a plenty they knew in the usedtawas. Down to my last box of home-pack a salmon and rockfish and halibut, tho in fairness am usually gone by now for warmer climes so been hoovering up more’n usual. Gotta put HumptyDumpty back together again before bolting. (Living down to my nym.) Ugh.

I’m just going by my usual. When it rises I see it from my front windows over Threadkill Lane, and then later I often see it from my bedroom window high over the trees and grounds leading to Moderation Alley. But that “usual” could be much later, because I’m a night owl and retire long after midnight—although I’ve been changing that somewhat lately.

Just as the alleged “eclipse” supposedly approached totality, the clouds took over and it started raining. This is bullshit. Science isn’t real and clearly this astronomy crap is just as much of a hoax as climate change.

Unless Billin got pix, in which case my faith will be restored. But apparently sticky nyms are gone forever.

I’m not asking you to dox the guy. Just wanted to know who the fuck you were talking about. You started with Moose’s mediocre hockey talent but gave no context until your comment to Suzanne. Maybe throw in a “Moose, a guy I knew some years back” somewhere. For a while I thought you were talking about someone in the Chiefs-Patriots game.

@BruceFromOhio: Yeah, me too. I had to go to a state school to accept the scholarship, not the university I wanted, but it was definitely a good deal. Can’t beat free. And my knees work and my head works.

Yup. We had such a weird storm. 10” of snow followed by hours of sleet and freezing rain – but it was about 7F most of the day which should be too cold for freezing rain. There is no way I can walk outside and even the dog doesn’t want to go out and slide around the yard.

Knew a bunch of “jocks” because I was a Jock-Nerd. Some, like the Larrsen Girls were smart as whips and rode Jockdom to fame and fortune, ( free rides, serious degrees, serious careers). Karen went Rhodes Scholar and Olympic Gold.

They could keep the “overtime is only 15 minutes” or whatever other rules they have. The main thing would be to lessen the coin-toss advantage of receiving the ball at the start of overtime. If the other team gets a possession, then at least they had a fair(er) shot.

Obviously (I hope), if the kicking team scores on the first team’s possession—safety or touchdown by fumble or interception—game over.

@MomSense:
Here in Ohio, the forecast is calling for 43 F and rain this Wednesday then another cold snap this Saturday. After we got like a foot of snow. Winters are becoming super weird the last few years; that, and shorter.

My brother’s goddaughter got a full-ride scholarship for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which is one of the best engineering schools in the state (and possibly THE best for engineers who don’t want to build spacecraft).

Most parents I know who have kids under about age 10 won’t let them play football. The CTE findings are just too damn scary. Plus a lot of locals were really traumatized by Junior Seau’s CTE-related suicide since he was a college star at USC before he played for the Chargers.

Hey, thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into that tomorrow/later today. That’s very helpful looking and I’ll get into it when awake.

At least it works when I have the Logitech speakers connected, but sure seems to have forgotten all about the internal audio equipment somehow. I have support from System76 also and will call them… like a last resort, read the manual, call the help desk.

Yes, the officiating was pretty much amateur hour, no call on really bad pass, defense tackled receiver before the ball arrived, violent hit alone was a penalty, leave alone no chance to catch the pass… KC would have had first and goal with the penalty called.

So the Superb Owl will be the Lost Rams and the NE Cheaters. Who are a good football team, they just need serious supervision by the officiating team. Before and during the game!

For nearly the entire 2016 and 2017 NFL season, the decline in viewership was a topic of conversation on sports and news platforms. It led to many media members using their platforms to bash professional football. It became open season on the NFL as to why it saw these declines. Political views and opinions often shaped which causes were blamed.

Thanks, caught it, have the tabs open. I plan to call System76, the builder of the laptop, for advice if I have time this afternoon. I have to go to town to pay the vet for her service Friday with the late beloved Happy dog. And pack to fly out tomorrow, optimistically.

It was 4 when I woke up at 4 am, and now it’s down to 1 degree F, which is chilly any way you look at it.

“I’m at a Lego robotics tournament for my oldest and you’ve never seen this many depressed fathers in one place. We’re all thinking, “Other kids play football…””

Most of my friends forbade their sons to play football because of the long term injuries and I’ve yet to meet a guy who played high school football who doesn’t regret it because of thinks like damaged knees and backs. I gather soccer is the sport of choice now because of that.